Daedalus Quartet Sunday, October 2-2:00 p.m.
- Program: Featuring works by Prokofiev, Haydn and Mendelssohn.
- Pre-performance Conversation with Rachel Hunter,
Kansas Public Radio
Music Director,
Lied Center, 1:00 p.m.
Reviews:game & book
GAME
Beat Down: Fist of Vengeance
PS2, Xbox
1/2
It's time to take the fighting to the streets. With Beat Down: Fist of Vengeance, you
are out to uncover a tale of payback and conspiracy, as you cruise alleys and streets, fighting and collecting money along the way.
The mechanics of the game are fairly simple. It's an action-adventure fighting game with plenty of interesting aspects. Players have the option to change their hairstyles, clothes and even have cosmetic surgery to keep under their enemies' radars. Doing something like that, however, can make the game
try to have them join your side or gain information from them. With certain foes,
less interesting. Easily, the best part of the of the underworld. game is the fighting.
You can also negotiate with people to
you can scare them so much that they will actually fight along side you. Another realistic aspect of the game is that once you call upon someone to fight for you, you have to rendezvous with them at a certain place. However, if the negotiations fail, you can always stomp their guts out. Both options are pretty satisfying.
This game is a good brawl for everyone. Its gritty looks and colorful language actually make it feel as if you are a part
- Chris Moore
BOOK
The Time Traveler's Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger
Harcourt, $14, available in paperback
Often, books come out that slip through the cracks at first, which makes finding them later that much more special. It's also nice to get them in
paperback for about half the price of a hardback. I decided to give The Time Traveler's Wife a try following a friend's recommendation. While a little dense at 500 pages, it has one of the most unique plots I've ever come across.
Henry DeTamble, our said time traveler, is afflicted with a fictional genetic disorder that causes him to travel back and forth through time, involuntarily. He has no control over
where he goes, when he goes or how long he's gone. For obvious reasons, this can get a little dangerous.
Clare Abshire, our said time traveler's wife, first encounters Henry as a child, when he (as an adult) time travels to her family's home. Henry turns into a repeat visitor, and as adults, Clare and Henry get married. The body of the novel recounts how Henry's time traveling experiences shape him, and how Clare deals with being left behind during the travel. The two face hardships such as trying to have a child, the danger of Henry's time travel and Clare's impatience at
The city of Chicago, where Henry works as a librarian and Clare is studying art, serves as the backdrop of the
waiting.
Some of the details are confusing (in a scene, there are often two Henrys of two different ages, one of that time and one time traveling). Niffenegger helpfully provides the ages and locations of the characters prior to each scene change. Henry must come face to face with some painful past memories, including the death
story. By the end of the novel, the city has evolved into its own character.
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of his mother, and his own unhappy young adulthood.
Apart from being the most un-science fiction "science fiction" novel I've ever read, Time Traveler is, despite its quirks, a very sincere and moving romance. Clare represents the stereotypically feminine behavior in her waiting, and Henry encompasses the masculinity of coming and going.The two characters, so different personality-wise, clash beautifully together. The end result is the lesson that love will always outlast time.
- Kelsey Hayes
Jayplay 09.22.05